Inter vehicle communication system

ABSTRACT

A method and network for transmitting a message from a sender to a recipient wherein the sender has no previous knowledge of the recipient&#39;s identity. A method is provided for registering a user with a web-enabled database service by providing correlating data on the user&#39;s identity and vehicle license plate number and/or other vehicle identifying information. A sender observing a vehicle can send a message to the recipient by logging onto the service and sending a message including the license plate number of the vehicle or other vehicle identifying information. The service will forward the message to the recipient by looking up the vehicle information, discerning the most appropriate communications method(s), and causing the message to be transmitted to the recipient or stored for later delivery.

This application is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No.09/757,651, filed on Jan. 11, 2001, which application claims the benefitof U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/175,258, filed Jan. 10, 2000, nowabandoned. Each of these applications is incorporated herein byreference

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method for connectingmessages addressed sent from one vehicle (sender) intended for a secondvehicle (recipient) without requiring pre-knowledge of the recipient'saddress information.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Computers are becoming more and more prevalent throughout ourtechnologically advanced society. Even with drivers of passengervehicles commuting on busier roads with more and more distractions andobstacles, the technology boom is quickly adding more and more internaldistractions to the inside of vehicles. Portable telephones arecurrently the most visible technological distraction for drivers.Minivans are now coming equipped with televisions and video players andvideo games in the backseat area for the amusement of the passengers.GPS systems and mapping displays are finding their way into ourvehicles. Heads-up-displays and night vision systems are beginning toenter the market place as well.

Cars and trucks are also being built now with additional outlets to runmore of the external electronics that drivers and passengers are portingwith them. The outlets that once were used to run radar detection unitsare now being used by the ever present computers. Laptops, notebooks,and hand held computers are becoming more and more prevalent as theinternet becomes an important method of sending and retrieving vitalinformation. Where individuals once made a telephone call to informationto locate phone numbers, now the same individuals are downloading thetelephone number off the internet along with the address, map anddriving directions to the destination from free sites available on theinternet.

With the methods available for one person to communicate with another atan all time high, through telephones, faxes, e-mail, chat groups, and amyriad of other sources, there should be a simple way for any individualin sight of a vehicle to transmit a message to the vehicle withouthaving to know the identity or address of the driver.

Wertheim (U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,372) posits a system with some of thesecapabilities. The Wertheim “PLATEDATE” is a transaction-based system forromantic dating. In the majority, its references to prior art discussrelationships and physical attraction. Wertheim collects personalinformation on martial status and sexual orientation, and uses thisinformation to make decisions about its messaging capabilities. Itdescribes the use of a database of license plate numbers, which can bequeried after the first party has paid a lookup fee. The Wertheim systemthen provides the personal data of the second party, and its work iscomplete.

The current inter vehicle communication system (“IVCS”) uses a databasecontaining, inter alia, license plate numbers. Unlike the prior art,IVCS extends the value of this database in several valuable and uniqueways.

The current system proposed by the present invention utilizes a centraldatabase and service to connect one driver with another driver by acommon internet medium. As in-car computers become more prevalent,inter-vehicle e-mail will provide an ideal method of connecting twodrivers who were previously unknown to each other. The internet providesa common format standardization for transmitting data which isindependent of the operating system, browser, and software being used byboth or either of the end computers. A hand held computer operating in anon-DOS (WINDOWS™, MACINTOSH™, etc.) environment can communicate easilywith a laptop running in a DOS environment, and vice versa. E-mail andthe internet provide common communication standards as well as arelatively “free” transmission medium.

The Inter Vehicle Communication System (IVCS) is a database clearinghouse to permit users to register their personal/professional contactinformation, including, inter alia, telephone numbers, email addresses,SMS and instant message IDs. Such information may be hereinafterreferred to as the “IVCS-ID”. The IVCS registration process permitsusers to designate various parts of the IVCS-ID as public or private,and to associate the user's IVCS-ID with a vehicle, identified by year,make, model, color, and license plate or a IVCS decal ID number. Throughthis database clearinghouse any individual can send a message (viaphone, IVR, email, SMS, instant messaging, etc) to the IVCS-ID of anyvehicle on the road, simply by identifying the license plate that shouldreceive the message. Registered users possessing an IVCS-ID can receivethe messages sent to them via this system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide aninter vehicle communication system capable of forwarding messages fromone driver to another driver without requiring the first driver haveprior knowledge of the second driver's identity.

It is another object of the invention to provide a system for forwardinginformation from a first party to a second party identified solely bythe second party's license plate number, decal information or similarvehicle identifying information.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of operationof a clearinghouse for registering users by personal/professionalcontact information to allow automated transmission of messages from onedriver to another driver.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a database andcomputer system capable of storing and retrieving IVCS-ID data onmembers, to correlate incoming messages addressed to a member's vehiclelicense plate number (or other vehicle identifying information (“VII”))and to forward the messages to the member via the appropriatepersonal/professional contact methods.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an ApplicationsProgramming Interface (“API”) that makes the collective IVCS-ID and VIIidentification and communications data of the IVCS available, for a fee,to third-party subscribers.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements andarrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which isinexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing itsintended purposes.

These and other objects of the present invention will become readilyapparent upon further review of the following specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is flow diagram of the transmission of a message from a firstdriver to a second driver.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the registration of information with theinter vehicle communication system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a web page menu structure according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a first vehicle browser program incommunication with a second vehicle browser program through an InterVehicle Communication System according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front plan view of a vehicle decal showing registrationinformation for a vehicle registered with an IVCS according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 shows preformatted message text for use in sending a messagethrough the IVCS according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the operation of the IVCS API.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistentlythroughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(s)

The present invention is to a system and method for connecting anoutgoing message of a first party (“sender”) with a communicationsterminal of a second party (“recipient”) who has been identified by thefirst party only by visual identifying parameters pertaining to thevehicle of the second party such as the vehicle license plate number,registration decal, or other identifying information.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, a first driver 10 operating a vehicle 11observes a second driver 12 operating a vehicle 14 within his visualrange and wants to send a message to the second driver. The vehicle 14has identifying information that is visually ascertainable such as themodel, vehicle color, number of doors, license plate number and state.The vehicle may have additional information that is only ascertainablefrom up close or at certain angles, or via certain technologies, such asa roof top identification number, vehicle identification number, taxibadge number, Bluetooth, or RFID code, etc. Additionally the vehicle mayhave other identifying information that is ascertainable throughelectronic broadcast or other methods. The information 16 iscumulatively the vehicle identifying information (“VII”).

A number of reasons may occur why the first driver would want to contactthe second driver. For instance, the first driver may want to tell thesecond driver to slow down or that his tail light is out. Currentlythere is no method other than to flag down the driver or to beep at thedriver until the driver pulls over to see why he is being flagged down.However, it is likely that the second driver will either fail to see orhear the signals, or fearing foul play of some kind will choose toignore the signals and speed off without receiving the information whichcould be important or helpful to the driver.

Currently the only way that it is possible for the first driver(“sender”) to send information is if the sender recognizes the driver ofthe second vehicle (“recipient”) and already knows how to contact therecipient, or at a minimum knows the name of the recipient and can findthe recipient's address indexed by his name. The likelihood that thesender knows any driver at a random intersection or stretch of highwayis extremely small. And the likelihood that the sender can track downcontact information on the web, if it is available at all or up to date,in time to send a useful message, while simultaneously paying attentionto driving, is even smaller.

According to the present invention, a service is provided via acombination of telecommunications and a database which allows the firstdriver to easily send a message by phone, over the internet, by e-mailor similar form, to the second driver without having prior knowledge ofthe second driver's contact information, if the second driver isregistered with the inter vehicle communication system (“IVCS”).

Registration

A central aspect of the current invention is the registration service.The registration satisfies at least two main goals of the service. Firstis the collection of correlation data on a user such as his name,address, e-mail address, license plate number, and/or other vehicleidentification information. The second is to ascertain that the userwishes to receive information from any individual trying to forward theinformation to him.

To initiate registration, as best shown in FIG. 2, a user logs onto thewebpage (FIG. 3) of the Inter Vehicle Communication Services (“IVCS”).It is to be understood that the particular computer used at any time isirrelevant, so long as the computer is internet-capable and is loggedonto a service provider such that it may send and receive e-mailaddressed to the user. The webpage 42 (FIG. 3) is then presented on thecomputer monitor 44.

Once the user is logged onto the webpage 42, the user selects “registervehicle” to initiate the log on process. The “register vehicle” button43 may be graphical, hypertext, hyperlinked, or otherwise programmed tosend the user to the registration page. The registration page may begraphical or text based. FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram representing theregistration steps for a preferred registration process. Once at theregistration page, the user is queried 50 whether or not he agrees to awaiver of liability. This is preferred so that the IVCS does not have tocontrol the content or transmission of information between the parties.If the user does not agree, then the webpage ends 52 the registrationprocess and sends the user out of the registration process back to themain page 42.

If the user agrees to waive liability against the service, then the usernegotiates a unique login name and password process 56 for future accessand registration to the system. This process is well known to one ofordinary skill in the art and will not be described further. If the usersigns onto the IVCS again, the user can be matched with his profile andrights by re-entering the id and password, or by automaticidentification through the use of Instant Message ID, Caller ID,internet cookies or other methods.

After establishing the login and password, the user must beauthenticated 58 both to establish the true identity of the user and tolimit “false” users that could clog the database with extraneousinformation. Authentication of the user may take any of several forms.Most commonly, the user enters his name and address information andauthenticates himself by providing a credit card number which can beverified. However, other common means are now available and will soon beimplemented which could be used as well. These methods include atelecommunications verification source, an independent internetverification source, a secure authorization site, or verification byPayPal (™) or a similar service provider.

Now that the user has been given a login identification and has beenauthenticated, the user can proceeds to the step 60 of entering personaldata about himself and his vehicle. The following data arerepresentative only and could include more or less data identifying theuser and his vehicle:

-   -   Name,    -   address (work and/or home),    -   telephone number (work, cellular, and/or home),    -   e-mail address,    -   Instant Message ID,    -   SMS Id,    -   webpage information,    -   vehicle type and model,    -   vehicle color,    -   license plate number,    -   vehicular identification number (“VIN”).

The information could also include other types of visual or non-visualidentifying numbers available to certain segments of the population suchas police enforcement, truckers, specialized licensee such as taxidrivers, etc. This information could include:

-   -   Roof top identification numbers,    -   electronically transmitted identification numbers,    -   taxi badge numbers,    -   other information printed on the vehicle or carried by the        vehicle.

In addition, the IVCS could issue identification numbers on decals (70,FIG. 5) placed in the window of the vehicle or otherwise affixed to thevehicle which identify the vehicle by a number or code 72 or mark whichvehicles are members of the service. The code 72 could consist ofnumber, letters, symbols or a combination thereof.

The IVCS then stores 62 the information into a database. The databaserecords are linked such that a search by any one field can retrieve datalinked to that field. For example, a search of the license plate 555AAAcan retrieve the name of the user (e.g. “John Doe”) who registered theparticular license plate. Various fields may be searched such as aentering a partial license plate along with color and type of vehicle tofind a likely match, or the search may be only for the unique vehicleidentification number to find the name of the registrant. Or instead ofrecalling the registrant's name, the database could present only thee-mail address of the registrant, a proxy for the e-mail address (thatis an e-mail address that forwards a message to the registrant's e-mailaddress) or any other data found in the database.

It is a key feature of this patent that the public or privatecharacteristic of each field of the data base is under control of theregistrant.

Operation

In operation, a SENDER 10 having access to a communications device 80and viewing a second vehicle 14 desires to contact the driver of thesecond vehicle. As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the SENDER initiatescommunication via a telephone or handheld computer 80 and accesses theinterface to the IVCS service and database. After pulling his vehicleoff to a safe place (not shown), the SENDER then selects “send message”90 from the graphical or audio menu sending him into the routine shownin the flow diagram of FIG. 1.

The SENDER is then prompted 92 for the license plate number of thevehicle that he wishes to contact, including the state designator forthe plate, if necessary. The SENDER is then prompted 94 for the text ofthe message to be sent. Alternatively, the SENDER can choose from atable 96 (FIG. 6) of form messages that can be sent. The form messagesmay include those shown in FIG. 6. Thus if the SENDER enters code “3”,the message “Share the Road” is selected to be sent to the secondvehicle 86. The message can also take the form of voice, audio, video,or other data which can be converted to a digital signal and sent to anycommunications terminal, though text is preferred to maintain the sizeof the message at a minimal byte count.

The message is then prepared 95 for transmission 97. The messageincludes address information identifying the intended recipient solelyby the license plate number or other vehicle identifying information(“VII”).

The IVCS database receives the message or encrypted message andreconstructs 98 the message, including the address information. The IVCSthen separates out the address information including the license platenumber or VII. The IVCS compares 99 the license plate number or VII tomember profiles in its database.

If the information matches the profile of a particular member, and themember profile authorizes the transmission of the information, then theIVCS retrieves 100 the contact information of the member 12 from thedatabase and formats a new message addressed to the registered member 12and containing the original message information of the first party's 10message. The message is then forwarded 102 to the second party via thedesignated communications methods.

The message may include a return address for the sender, so that a replycan be returned merely by hitting the “reply to” or “call back” buttonon the message. One skilled in the art would also recognize that themessage could be sent anonymously or by a non-returnable address.Alternatively, the message could be a general broadcast sent by a policeofficer or other official sending a warning message to speeders or aninformational message such as “road closed ahead” or other message.

One skilled in the art would appreciate that the sender 10 could also bein a stationary position such as a house or yard or somewhere else wherehe can observe the vehicle and utilize the system according to thepresent invention without departing from scope and teaching of thepresent invention.

Additionally, in the case where both the sender 10 and recipient 12 areregistered members of the IVCS, instead of forwarding the message as aone-way communication, an “instant message” screen could be presentedinstead allowing for the instantaneous transmission of messages betweenthe users on a split screen. The top screen preferably showing incomingmessages and the bottom screen showing messages sent or under beingtyped for transmission. Preferably, voice communication between the twoparties either through a web-based program or by hot linking thewireless communications systems supporting the modems of the computerbrowsers, the two parties can talk directly to each other. The preferredmethod of communication used will be dictated by the technologycurrently available—modem speed, encryption methods, integration ofcomputers and telephones, and standards currently in effect.

Revenue for the project will be provided preferably in two levels. A lowlevel service will be available free of charge to the subscriber. Thefees will be provided instead through advertisers to the service andlinks to travel related services or other marketers as appropriate. Thislevel might only allow a subscriber to receive only e-mail. By paying asubscription fee, the user would have access to other services such asfiltering (based on key words or message codes) or voice communication,private chat or instant messaging, or other services.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to thesole embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodimentswithin the scope of the following claims.

1. A method for directing real time and stored message communicationsfrom a sender to a recipient comprising the steps of: a. receiving amessage from a sender including a license plate corresponding to thevehicle of the recipient; b. matching the license plate of the recipientwith a unique identifier (IVCS-ID) assigned to the recipient and withany corresponding delivery method preferences of the recipient withoutthe need for payment per-message or personal observation of the physicalcharacteristics of the recipient c. constructing a message addressed tothe recipient; d. sending the message to the recipient. e. storingmessages when real-time communications are unavailable.
 2. A method andsystem of providing third parties with an application programminginterface (API) to such a real time and stored message communicationssystem that enables insertion, retrieval, and data mining of messagesand corresponding profiles via an automated process.
 3. A method ofusing the IVCS-API in conjunction with Bluetooth or RFID vehicleidentification to enable mobile or stationary senders to provideautomatic messaging to vehicles in radio-proximity to the sender.